Chinese Firm Buys AMC Movie Theater Chain in Largest Sale Ever of U.S. Company to China

In another first for China, the Asian giant’s largest entertainment group has reached a deal to purchase the second biggest theater chain in the U.S., making the sale the largest to date of an American business to the Chinese.

The Dalian Wanda Group, controlled by billionaire real-estate developer Wang Jianlin, will pay $2.6 billion for AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Two billion of the $2.6 billion represents debt that Wanda will take on as part of the purchase from the previous owners, which included private-equity firms JPMorgan Partners, Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital.

The deal not only represents the largest purchase of an American company by China, but also establishes Wanda as the largest theater operator in the world.

And Wanda has plans to grow even larger, as it seeks to buy other American theater chains and European cinema operators as well.

Wang’s goal is to control at least 20% of the world theater market by 2020. A former officer in the Chinese army, Wang joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1996.